A security official in Libya says a well-known air force colonel has been found shot dead hours after he went missing in the country's east.

The official said the body of Col. Adam Faraj al-Abdali was discovered early Tuesday with shots to his head and chest inside his car near a cemetery in Benghazi. He said the colonel had gone missing hours earlier and was unreachable.

Col. Al-Abdali, in his fifties, had pioneered the use of Russian jets in Libya. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to brief reporters. (AP)